Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy is returning to New Hampshire, which has long held the first Republican primary. The Granite State is, not surprisingly, a popular destination among 2024 GOP candidates. Ramaswamy has been campaigning there for months and is set to return on July 20 for a town hall in Manchester.
The 6:30 p.m. event is hosted by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College — 100 Saint Anselm Dr., Manchester, NH 03102.
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Ramaswamy then heads west to Iowa, the first voting state in the GOP nomination process, with its midwinter caucuses. On July 21 at 12:15 p.m., he’ll headline a lunch event sponsored by Linn County Moms for Liberty and the Linn County GOP. The event is set for Kingston’s Steakhouse, 568 Boyson Rd NE #100, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402.
Ramaswamy first made his name politically as a conservative cable television star, decrying “wokeness” in corporate culture. He’s since become an outspoken critic of U.S. aid to Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia, even more so than former President Donald Trump, a 2024 GOP rival of Ramaswamy’s, who polls show leads the Republican pack by a wide margin in his effort to return to the White House after four years out of office.
Congresswoman’s BBQ bash bursts with GOP candidates
The first two 2024 GOP hopefuls who agreed to participate in an Aug. 6 event mixing politics and food, hosted by Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), were Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Now, they’ll have plenty of company at the third annual “Ashley’s BBQ Bash” at Hawkeye Downs Speedway and Expo Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Hinson, representing the northeastern Iowa 2nd Congressional District, recently announced that Ramaswamy will be there. So will North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. The 2024 Republican presidential candidates “will be joining us to share their vision to get our country back on track!” Hinson tweeted.
The top ranks of Iowa Republicans will also participate in the event hosted by Hinson, a former state lawmaker and local television anchor who beat a Democratic House member in 2020. Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Hawkeye State’s two Republican senators, Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, will all be at the BBQ bash.
Iowa caucuses date set
Iowa has long been a key cog in the Republican presidential nominating process. The Iowa caucuses stand out even more for Republicans in the 2024 cycle since Democrats, set to renominate President Joe Biden, are banishing the state to the middle of its primary voting calendar.
Republicans now have less than six months to make the sale to Iowa voters. Iowa Republicans voted on July 8 to hold their first-in-the-nation caucuses on Jan. 15, 2024, setting up the earliest start of the presidential nominating process since 2012, when caucusgoers gathered on Jan. 3. The State Central Committee of the Iowa GOP met and voted unanimously on the date.
The New Hampshire primary, which under state law must be held before any other primary, doesn’t yet have a date but is expected to be the second contest on the GOP calendar, before the end of January. Nevada Republicans plan to forgo their state’s presidential primary (at least for the purposes of awarding delegates) and hold caucuses in early February.
South Carolina Republicans decided last month to hold their primary on Feb. 24. Trump is popular in South Carolina, but the Palmetto State has two local favorites challenging him for the GOP nomination in his White House comeback bid — Haley, his administration’s first U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C), a senator for a decade after two years as a House member in a long career in local and state politics.
That all marks a slight change from recent Republican calendars. Previously, Nevada was the last of the traditional “first four” early states to vote before the first major day of primaries on Super Tuesday.
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South Carolina’s continued prominence in the GOP nominating contest is keeping its favorite daughter at least somewhat close to home. Haley is set to campaign in Greensville, South Carolina, on July 20.
The unnamed event with Nikki Haley starts at 6:30 p.m. at the event space Zen. “From intimate gatherings to full-scale weddings and large corporate events, we help you make it unforgettable,” touts the website for Zen, which is at 924 S Main St., Greenville, SC 29601.
